Immigration

R (A (Somalia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] All ER (D) 467 (Jul) was binding authority that, when considering the lawfulness of detention, the court had to assume the role of primary decision maker rather than simply reviewing the decision of the Secretary of State along traditional public law lines. In considering the issue of lawfulness, the court had to attach appropriate weight in its deliberation to matters such as government policies, risk assessments, and the evidence as to likely time-scales for the deportation of the individual. If the court confined itself to a consideration of whether it had been inevitable that the decision would have been the same if the error had not been made, it was abdicating the responsibility that it had as primary decision maker in cases concerning the liberty of the subject.